Friday, December 29, 2017

Today I am wrapping up my 2017 cards with another design team post for Dreamerland Crafts. This beautiful girl is called, Spreading the Good News, and while the original image has her blowing leaves I thought she would be cute for a more winter themed card. So I wiped away the ink from the leaves before stamping, leaving that space blank. Next I colored her up in some pretty winter blues and purples. And then I tackled the background... I was envisioning one of our local parks that sits right along the lake and has a little bridge connecting one half of the park to the other. I wanted Good News to be stopped on that bridge with the trees on one side and the water on the other with the freshly fallen snow covering everything. Last but not least I used a white gel pen to draw in a swirl of cold and snow for her to be blowing instead of the leaves. I think the end result turned out quite magical, if I do say so myself. It's always good to end the year on a card I'm really happy with, makes me feel confident and upbeat about where my creative journey will go in 2018. :)

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Ah, it's good to be back after this little break for the holiday. As busy as I've been with both work and play it was nice being able to ease back into coloring and card making with an image that I had already colored up. Back at the beginning of the month Some Odd Girl ran a 12 Days of Coloring challenge in their Facebook group and I had a blast playing along. One of the images got made into a Christmas card so now I have eleven other colored images ready to go on cards in the coming year. This gorgeous Winter Spirit digi is one of them and with the below freezing temps we are currently 'enjoying' in my neck of the woods, I thought getting her on a card now would be quite appropriate. I had a lot of fun coloring her up in cool, icy hues and even gave her skin tone a bluish cast. I decided to also color in a frozen winter meadow below her and added a trail of snowflakes beneath her using the Fairy Dust stamp from Neat and Tangled to give the appearance that she is flying over the land spreading winter's icy touch. I think it all came together to create a lovely winter card. :)

Sunday, December 24, 2017

My new camera arrived and while I still need to read the manual to learn all the new features I did manage to get half decent pics of the last two Christmas cards I made for 2017. Since it seemed a shame not to share them I'm posting on a Sunday to wish you all the best! :)

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Sorry folks, I have a card but no post to share today. My ten year old DSLR camera decided to go kapoot on me so I can't take any pics. I did order a new one with a promise of two day delivery so things should be back to normal around the ol' blog in no time. Until then, keep it crafty! :)

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

This is my last Tuesday post for 7 Kids Your Crafting Supply Store for a few weeks. The design team will be taking a break through the holidays but we will be back to our regularly scheduled posting in the new year. For my final 7 Kids Christmas card of the year I inked up this darling snowman from Dreamerland Crafts called, I Can Fly. Rather than having him soar through the sky I saw him on the ground looking up at the falling snow. So I proceeded to color in some snow and trees to help ground him in place. I just love how happy he looks with his kitty pal trying to catch the snowflakes as they tumble down. :)

Alrighty, so even though we are taking a break that doesn't mean you can't still play along in the December "anything goes challenge". Get crafty and head on over to the 7 Kids blog for the chance to win a $20 gift certificate!

Monday, December 18, 2017

Can you believe we are officially only one week away from Christmas day?! OMGoodness I feel like I still have so much to do! Makes me wish I had a pause button I could press for a day or two, LOL! Anywho... I completely fell in love with this sweet elf from Tiddly Inks and when I saw that the current challenge is "Be Merry" I knew that Elf Delivery Service would be perfect for playing along. I just can't resist a tiny, little elf piled high with gifts for Santa's sleigh, probably because he reminds me of myself when I come home from a day of shopping and I don't want to make more than one trip getting everything in the house. ;)

Speaking of which, I've got to get ready to run to town this morning. Hopefully this is the last shopping trip of the season and everything will finally be crossed off my list. Wish me luck! :)

Friday, December 15, 2017

I've got another quick card to share today before I dash off to work. This quirky little elf from Mo's Digital Pencil is part of a duo called North Pole Employees. Something about this guy just brings a smile to my face so he had to get on a card this year. I paired him up with some older Christmas papers by My Mind's Eye that I love because they mix pretty aquas and pinks into the traditional red and green color combo. So while I kept his outfit very traditional I colored the ornaments in all those pretty 'bonus' colors. Then to really make them stand out I sparkled them up with some Wink of Stella and added Glossy Accents on top of that. The end result is so cool looking in person, I wish the photo captured it.

Anywho... have a great weekend, time to get those final Christmas gifts and bake those cookies! :)

Thursday, December 14, 2017

I've been wanting to play around with a good ol' Anya head swap so I grabbed So Hip and gave her a fancy winter get-up from the Secret Santa kit from The Greeting Farm for my card today. Now she looks ready to hit those city sidewalks and enjoy the festive light displays in her stylish ensemble. The paper is from another older Simple Stories paper pad and I really like how it kinda looks like the abstract sparkle of lights in the background. :)

Well that's all I got before heading off to work... talk at'cha tomorrow!

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

It's the second Wednesday of the month and that means it's time for the December 'anything goes' challenge over on the 7 Kids challenge blog.
Playing along is easy, all you have to do is use at least one product
that can be found in the 7 Kids Your Crafting Supply Store and link back to the challenge
blog in your own post, which gives you a chance at winning a $20 gift
certificate at the end of the month... who doesn't love that?

I'm a huge fan of the Little Bits collection that Stamping Bella introduced this past fall and each new release seems to top the last. I have so much fun mixing and matching all of the different accessory stamps to create personalized and unique scenes on my cards. For my card today I mixed stamps from four different sets; Santa Kids and Pets, Santa's Snacks, Santa's Mantle and the Fireplace Backdrop. I wanted it to look like this little tyke has snuck out of his bed to eat some of the cookies left for Santa on Christmas Eve. The sentiment is from a Mama Elephant set and I like how it kinda sums up everything in the scene, from the family in the photos, his pup friend and the wonder of a visit from Santa. ♥ Alrighty, I hope to see all of my crafty friends join the fun with me this month over at 7 Kids!

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

I'm here today with my weekly 7 Kids Your Crafting Supply Store
card creation. For today's card I inked up Pretty Lil Present from Whimsy Stamps in Desert Sand ink so I could do some no-line coloring with her. The papers I pulled are from an older Simple Stories paper pad and I tried to match my Copics to the dark, elegant colors in it. I don't know if this is a gift she has just received or if she just finished wrapping it for someone special, either way this pretty lil gal seems to be full of Christmas spirit. And did I mention that Pretty Lil Present is part of the Christmas clearance sale that is currently running? Yep, Kelly is making room on the shelves with a 30% off all Halloween and Christmas sale, all you have to do is type in SPLURGE at check out. :)

Alrighty, well the November challenge just wrapped up but be sure to check out the 7 Kids blog
tomorrow when December's challenge kicks off! That $20 gift certificate could make for a nice little 'treat yo self' present! ;)

Monday, December 11, 2017

I've got a quick post today before I head off to work. A few months back I got this cute Sweet Holiday Greetings stamp set from Your Next Stamp because I completely fell in love with it. You know me and my scene building, well I couldn't pass up being able to put together my own plate of treats for Santa. For the this card I paired the stamps with the Merry Merry paper pad by Pebbles and let the paper guide the way. The gingerbread couple became a no-brainer and the Santa mug was just too adorable not to add into the mix. :)

Friday, December 8, 2017

This was the last card that I made for my cousin to send off this Christmas and I used the fun Babbo Selfie stamp from Impronte d'Autore. It gave me the perfect reason to finally pull out this Polaroid die from Mama Elephant and the stamp fit perfectly! I love how it looks like a snapshot taken at the North Pole just before Santa loads up the sleigh and takes off on his big night. The paper looked like falling snow and helped complete the North Pole vibe I was going for. Alrighty then, gotta wrap this up and head to work.

Thursday, December 7, 2017

I've got exciting news to share today... this month I am officially joining the Dreamerland Crafts design team! I was first introduced to these super sweet stamps through 7 Kids Your Crafting Supply Store and I quickly fell completely in love with them. So I was thrilled when I got the invite to represent this wonderful company and help showcase their latest and greatest. For my first official Dreamerland card I inked up the Warming Up Together stamp from their newest release. If this cozy couple doesn't melt your heart I don't know what will. I could totally picture these winter sweethearts spending Christmas at a mountain cabin, just them and their little pup. I used my Copic markers to color in that scene and bring it all to life. It's another clean and simple design from me but I love how it all came together. :)

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Some Odd Girl kicked off a 12 days of coloring challenge in their Facebook group on the first of the month and I had colored up this Shopping Piper digi for the first day. Originally she is wearing crop pants and ballet flats but I wanted to make her work for a Christmas card so I just chose to color her pants a dark grey and take it all the way down her legs to lengthen her pants. The same trick turned her ballet flats into a warm pair of boots, talk about an easy alteration. Now Piper is ready to brave the cold and finish up her Christmas shopping. When I sat down to make a card with her yesterday I thought about fussy cutting her out but I couldn't find any papers in my stash that really told the story that I wanted to with Piper. So I grabbed my Copics, took a deep breath and sketched in a sidewalk and store window behind her. It was fairly quick and the bricks aren't perfect but I still think it works ok since Piper is the star of the show. :)

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

It's Tuesday and you know what that means... time for my weekly 7 Kids Your Crafting Supply Store card creation. This time around I have paired up a couple of the newer Greeting Farm stamps to create a magical winter scene. I am a huge fan of these darling big eyed girls and I really wanted to make this Best Friends set work on a Christmas card. The way she is looking off to the side I figured she could be sharing a magical holiday moment in the woods with one of Santa's reindeer from the Merry and Bright set. I wanted the reindeer to be looking back up at her so I grabbed my handy mirror image stamp to flip the reindeer to the left like I needed. Now I had the scene that I had envisioned in my head and I was ready to color. The birch forest was inspired by Sandy Allnock and I just used my Copic markers to sketch in the trees and snowy grass. It looks like the perfect place for some Christmas magic to happen if you ask me. :)Alrighty, there is still one more week to play along in the November 'anything goes' challenge so head on over to the 7 Kids blog
and join in! Also don't miss out on the special sale Kelly has going on right now, just use the code JOY to save 20% on orders over $25 until Wednesday 12/6 at midnight.

Monday, December 4, 2017

I got another card done for my cousin to send out this Christmas. For this one I inked up sweet Yuki from Sister Stamps as well as the fireplace from Impronte d'Autore. Originally the fireplace has Santa popping out of it but I wiped him away before stamping so that Yuki was the star of the show. I love the story that these stamps tell together, you can just feel the magic of Christmas morning as she hugs that fun filled stocking tight. It was great to revisit these retired Sister Stamps images and hopefully that won't have to wait as long before getting on Christmas cards again in the future. :)

Friday, December 1, 2017

I'm playing in this week's Bellarific Challenge today and it is an easy one... 'free for all'. Now that we are officially in December and all things Christmas I figured it was the perfect time to get Tiny Townie Rita and the Reindeer on a card. I fell in love with this image as soon as it was previewed and I knew that I had to add it to my stamp collection asap. There is just something about it that feels like it is telling a story so I wanted to further that idea with a colored in scene behind them. I envisioned Rita and the Reindeer riding through the silent woods on a moonlit Christmas Eve. The magic of that really hits me in the feels. :)

Thursday, November 30, 2017

How could I go through the Christmas season without getting an A Day For Daisies beauty on a card? Last year I got both the Christmas Tree Fairy and Musical Bell Fairy happily homed on cards of their own so I wanted to continue working my way through the holiday fairies series with Frosty Snowflake Fairy. Initially with snow and snowflakes the mind goes to cool color palettes with lots of aquas, blues and violets but this gorgeous Christmas paper had me going in a whole different direction. Sure she has the silver skirt but the pops of red and gold really stand out against the dark forest I sketched in behind her. Then she got finished off with a healthy dose of sparkle to make her really shimmer and shine. :)

Ok friends, enjoy this final day of November because after this, December and all of its holiday craziness will officially be upon us!

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

I'm checking another card off my cousin's order with this one. Two down, two to go. For this one I inked up happy little Setsuna from Sister Stamps and paired him with a Christmas tree from Impronte d'Autore. I'm 99% sure that they are drawn by the same artist so they really look great together. In keeping with my one layer rule for these cards I colored in a wood floor and wall behind them to pull the simple scene all together. I also made sure to leave a lot of open space up above because I really wanted to use this cool sentiment with Setsuna. To finish it all off I added plenty of sparkle and gloss to the ornaments decorating the tree.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

It's Tuesday and time for a new 7 Kids Your Crafting Supply Store
card creation. 7 Kids recently began working with Patricia Alvarez of Kinda Cute Stamps to start turning some of her wonderful digi designs into clear stamps. For my card today I have inked up the Kinda Cute Santa Claus with Presents in desert sand ink so I could play with some no-line coloring. I did this because I wanted to add a few more facial features to Santa and really bring him to life. Once I had him colored up it was time to figure out what kind of scene to put him in. So I asked my sister for advice and she suggested that he be up on a roof top getting ready to go down a chimney. I loved the story that would tell and it was a nice challenge to figure out the perspective on that chimney. Oh... and I used more of that shimmery Curious Metallics Cryogen white cardstock to color this Christmas scene on. I think I might be seriously addicted because the end result is so pretty in person.

Alrighty, there is still a couple weeks to play along in the November 'anything goes' challenge so head on over to the 7 Kids blog
and play along for the chance to win a $20 gift certificate!.

Monday, November 27, 2017

This weekend I had a request from my cousin, Michael, for some Christmas cards that he could send to the parents of his exchange student friends who are staying with him. They are from Japan and right away I thought of my Sister Stamps stash. The way we stampers tend to accumulate new stamps it is easy to always be using the new, new, new! I know I fall into that all the time, so it makes it even sweeter when I revisit old favorites. This fun stamp is called Shimo San and in order to keep the card nice and flat for mailing I decided to go ahead and color in a winter background for them to inhabit. I also just got my hands on some Curious Metallics Cryogen White cardstock to see what it was like to color on and I gotta say, I LOVE it! The Copic ink goes on so smooth, blending beautifully and the cardstock has a subtle iridescent shimmer to it that makes the finished card positively sparkle and shine. I wish the photo captured the magic of this cardstock because it is so pretty in person. Well I hope Michael likes this card as much as I do because I had a blast coloring up these winter kiddos once again.